dear special lady, love your body.

alright yall. I can't take it anymore.

I've seen this picture one too many times. and my opinion may not matter to you, but I'll feel better if I write it anyway.

so, ovbiously the dove REAL beauty campaign is replicating the Victoria Secret love your body photo.  cool. I get it.  Victoria Secret models are thin. and toned.  but isn't that their job?  last time I checked, they do get paid to model and they work hard for their bodies.  and no one should discriminate against that. news flash: there are women who are born thin. yes, and I am one of them. I'm naturally thin.  I'm not bragging about that, sometimes I hate it.  sometimes I love it. but that's me. my body. and I'm tired of people coming up to me and asking if I eat, um yes I eat. I love ice cream. I'm a human person and I love to eat.  I'm tired of people asking me if I have an eating disorder.  no, no I don't. and that would break my heart if I did and you asked me that. women really struggle with that. it's a real life situation.  but, just because I look a little too skinny for your liking doesn't mean I'm anorexic. because you know what? God made my body skinny. God made bodies curvy, thin, big boned, pear shaped, muscular.  He made all kinds.  that's the uniqueness of our big, mighty God.  He made each person different.  I know, I know.  It's only natural for our society to pick on skinny ladies.  I don't understand it, really.  It hurts my feelings when I get called out on being skinny.  excuse me, but what if I called you out on being too big for my liking?    we, as woman, are our biggest enemies.  I mean, we don't dress up and try to look good for the men.  let's be honest, I want women to notice how stylish I look.  so why do we think it's okay to bring other women down on this issue?  we. are. the. worst. rather you like it or not, victoria secret models are thin and toned because they get paid to be thin and toned.  end of story. but they are also REAL women. they have real feelings, real life problems, real issues.  no one should get called out for being too skinny, too fat, too muscular, too toned because it hurts.  it really does. all my life, people joke about skinny woman, but it's not funny anymore.  we should all love the body we have, take care of the body we have.  hey, if you like to eat salad and fruit, eat it. If you like eat ice cream and chips, eat it.  If you like to cross fit and lift weights, girl, you go. if you like to practice yoga and Pilates, do it.  If you like to run/walk/jog, more power to you sister! If you like to sit on your couch and watch Netflix, I'm not stopping you.  if baking is your thing, bake your heart out.  my point: do you. do what makes you happy. and what makes you feel like a woman.  change the world with your faith, your actions, your heart. empower and lift women up.  we all need it, daily.  I'm preaching to myself too, here. 

I, Brooke, promise to love my body even when I hate it.  even when I want to change it, even when I feel down, even when i eat a whole tub of ice cream, even when I finish a 2 hour workout, even when I get old. I promise to lift others up, no matter their body shape.  I promise to be the good in this world, be the light of Christ when I feel like it's raining in my life.  I promise to be me, simply because God made me, just how He wanted me. 

much love,

Brooke

sushi kiss || mac

Hi my lovelies! 

First makeup post on my blog and I'm going to introduce you to M.A.C's sushi kiss lipstick.  I picked this up a couple weeks ago in Florida and I wish I could have bought every single coral/pink color there.  My first ever M.A.C lipstick and it has great color, smells good and also stays on (even through eating!)  The lipsticks run around $16 and up. Depending on if it is limited edition, etc.  compared to many other designer lipsticks, this is a great deal because you get a lot of bang for your buck. I paired this gorgeous coral color with a gold smokey eye and used most shadows out of my favorite, most used palette, Lorac Pro.  This palette is so affordable and is great for any beginner.  

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and have a great week! 

a really, real honest post

can I be honest? and not judgmental?

I'm not here to judge. or call anyone out.  No, I'm here to write what's been on my heart and what's been breaking my heart. 

If you know me, you know I have recently been getting involved with our youth girls at church.  A big passion of mine, to teach young girls about Jesus, and also be a person they can come to, at any circumstance, and have someone be there to listen.  To be someone I wished I had when I was going through a hard time.  I don't spend that much time with these girls but I love them.  I love them like they are my sisters, well technically they are, but you know what I mean.  I pray for them, I watch out for them, I just love them.  I see myself in their teenage tendencies.  I am still a teenager but you obviously grow A LOT from 13 to 19.

this day and age, us as girls, are being shoved into this world of wants.  and by that I mean how this world wants us to be.  miley cyrus? um, no thank you.  but the sad part about that is I see girls all the time saying that miley is their role model or their "BAE" whatever that means.  I will try really hard to not rant about miley.  but my point here is, girls don't have the wants and desires to be a well-respected woman.  point-blank period. 

I am surprised (well not that surprised) at the things I see on social media. social media, ya know the place where you post a picture and can never delete it even if you really delete it.  well, here's what I think, save your sexiness for your husband one day! and that is all I have to say about that.

I see so many girls, trying so hard to please anyone, with how they will act.  I see them lower their standards for one night.  I see them forget all the morals they had because of one drink.  I see them being peer pressured into something they normally wouldn't think to do because of pushy "friends" telling them it's okay.  I see them chasing guys day after day.  I see them dressing like they don't care about their body.  I see them becoming someone else, that they never intended to be.  I see them, at the end of it all, being the girl no one has respect for anymore.  and deep down inside them, that hurts.  it hurts because they didn't think one night would be a game changer.  it hurts because they thought this guy loved them so much.  it hurts because they thought if they ever got this low, that their friends would help them along the way, instead of bring them down.  it hurts.  nobody wants to be known as the girl who doesn't care, and just living it up. (yolo) every girl wants to be loved, respected, successful, a role model to someone, unique and beautiful in their own way (which we all are, sisters!)

I don't want to see girls start their teenage years off this way because it's the "only way to live." There is so much more to life than trying to please the crowd. 

 I want to see these girls loving Jesus with all their heart, being a good friend, respecting themselves, doing what they love, fulfilling their dreams, growing, learning, and teaching. 

you are beautiful.  in your own little way.  beyond the looks, it goes deep into your soul.  radiate such a beauty to someone each day.  I seriously cannot get over how amazing it is, that God, created each of us with a different personality from the next person, and He gives us all a gift we can use to radiate our beauty. 

r e s p e c t. y o u r s e l f.


and if somehow, you feel like what I just listed above, you are reading this, I hope you know that I love you. and so does God.  and I am here to talk or to listen.  I won't judge you or talk bad about you.  I'll listen, and encourage you, and just let you know everything is going to okay, I have been there.  It gets better.

oh, and you know the really cool thing about it all?  Jesus gives us grace we sure don't deserve even when we act really stubborn!  He's there, sister, He's there. 

"To me, a lady is not frilly, flouncy, flippant, frivolous and fluff-brained, but she is gentle. She is gracious. She is Godly and she is giving...you and I, if we are women, have the femininity. Very often it is obscured, just as the image of God is obscured in all of us...The more womanly we are, the more manly men will be, and the more God is glorified. As I say to you women, Be women. Be only women. Be real women in obedience to God." - Elisabeth Elliot 

my favorite quote here lately!

Jonah 3 & 4

Jonah 3 & 4

This book keeps getting better and I am growing in wisdom with it.

After Jonah gets spit out by the fish, he wants to obey God now - wouldn't you?

I like how She Reads Truth put it: "Jonah guzzles grace like he's never been thirstier for it, but then, without missing a beat, he does something revolutionary, he obeys!"

God commanded Jonah to go to the city of Nineveh and proclaim the message, again, and Jonah went.  (v. 3 1-3)  After Jonah proclaimed, "forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown", the ninevites believed God.  Then a fast was proclaimed and all of them put on sackcloth. (v. 3:4-5)  The king of Nineveh heard the message and he rose from his throne and put on the sackcloth and sat down in dust.  He told the people, animals, flocks and herds to not eat or drink anything and to be covered with sackcloth.  He told them to urgently call on God and give up their evil ways and violence.  "Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so we will not perish"  Seriously - let's point out that the he said who knows, God may or may not relent.  But God did relent and didn't bring the destruction he had threatened.  (v. 3: 6-10)

It's hard to be obedient to the Lord, but it is a responsibility Christ followers have.  Most of the time, we are more likely to obey when things in our life are going bad because we want it to come to an end. We seek the Lord more in the bad trials of life - it's true.  Just like the ninevites, they heard that the city would be overthrown in 40 days and the bible says the ninevites believed God, they fasted and obeyed.  What I love the most about this part of Jonah, is when the king fasted as well and told the people to not eat or drink and end their evil ways, he also said, who knows? the lord may relent and turn from his anger and we will not perish.  He was willing to obey either way.  Good or bad.  God did relent and did not bring destruction on Nineveh. 

God wants you to obey for a reason.  He is God, after all.  Sometimes really painful things come out of you putting your obedience in the Lord, but there is a reason for that pain.  God doesn't want to hurt you, he wants to see if you are willing to put your full trust in Him and obey to what he says.  When we don't do that, he can take some things away from you, but  it is to help you.  I can think back from some of the most painful times I have been through and now I can clearly see why God allowed that to happen, and I'm thankful I obeyed him through that time in my life.  And then I think back at the times I didn't exactly obey the Lord, and still have really painful things happen, but I learned from that and can see why God wanted me to obey.  God is God, simple as that.  The creator of the Universe, the maker of humans, the ultimate love. Let's learn to obey, even when times are hard and good!

"Repentance is about what God is doing, not what we do to gain any kind of merit."- SRT writings.

Annnnnd, after I just wrote a book about obedience, chapter 4 takes a turn.......

Jonah gets selfish.  He thought it seemed wrong and became angry.  He knew the Lord would be gracious and compassionate to this city and he didn't want to go out and do what God had commanded him to do.  (perfect example as to how we react when God calls us to do something but we think we know the outcome anyway and we shouldn't have to do that.)  Jonah wants to die.  He literally asks God to take his life.  (v. 4:1-4)  Jonah goes out and finds a place east of the city and makes himself a shelter.  God then provides a leafy plant to give shade and Jonah is very happy about that.  God provides a worm to chew the plant.  Then He provides a scorching east wind and the sun starts blazing on Jonah's head and he is faint.  He told God he wanted to die again.  (v. 4:5-8)

In verse 4:10-11: God is saying here, Jonah, you are the same as the people of the city of Nineveh and I give the same mercy and compassion.  Y'all, God doesn't pick and choose who He graciously gives mercy to, we are all undeserving (so very undeserving) and yet He still loves us and gives us that mercy and grace. 

"over and over God grants mercy and provisions to his undeserving child.

over and over, the Lord grants the same mercy to his other (also undeserving child)." -srt writings

obedience. mercy. grace.

thank Jesus for that today.

Jonah 1 & 2

Jonah 1 & 2

Jonah, big fish, three days & nights: what I learned in Sunday school.

Last week, I started the book of Jonah bible study with She Reads Truth, and y'all, I have learned so much about him. 

First off, lets remember, God CALLED Jonah.

He called Jonah to preach repentance to a crazy-wicked city.  And he disobeyed because he didn't think those people deserved God's mercy. (srt writings)

I can't count how many times I have felt that I couldn't be forgiven because I've gone too far out.  But, this is God we are talking about, who forgives and saves.  Bless HIM!

recap of chapter 1 & 2 - Jonah ran from the Lord when he called him, he headed for Tarshish and got on a ship. (v.1:3) God sent a huge storm and the sailors aboard cried out to their own gods. (v. 1:5) Jonah had gone below deck to sleep, and the sailor asked him "how can you sleep? call on your god and see if he will take notice!" (v. 1:6) The sailors deciding to cast lots and one lot fell on Jonah.  He had told them who he was and that he worships the God of Heaven.  The sailors asked Jonah what they needed to do for the storm to stop and Jonah replied by saying pick me up and throw me into the sea and it will become calm. (v. 1:10-12) The sailors cried out to God and asked Him to not take their lives for taking this mans life! (v.1:13-14) They threw Jonah overboard and the raging sea grew calm.  The men greatly feared the Lord. (v.1: 15-16)  The Lord had a huge fish ready to swallow Jonah and he was in the belly of the fish for three days and nights. And inside Jonah prayed to the Lord. (v. 2: 1-10)

A lot happening in these two chapters but so much wisdom I have got out of this.

God LOVES Jonah.  He makes the storm crazy to get his attention.  Moves the sailors to call out to their gods for help and incites the sailors to ferret out Jonah's secret. God shows His will with the casting of lots. (srt writings)

GOD WANTED JONAH.... and we can't escape God. (as you see)

Our sin doesn't just affect us, it affects the people around us. Jonah ran far from God and put the sailors in jeopardy.  But, he realized his choice has caused too much and he GAVE everything to reconcile with God.  HIS life.

but God is teaching a lesson through this mess of a storm.  It's not easy.  It's scary.  but lets trust in the King of Kings.  God wanted Jonah to preach to the wicked city for A reason. He did pick JONAH after all! Lets not run from that.

Wouldn't it be so much easier to obey what God is telling you to do, then get so deep in your sin, you just keep on making bad choices and cause hurt and pain around you. 

"We serve a God of second, seventh, forty-second chances. A God who provides mercy in the strangest and most miraculous of places.  He will not leave us storm tossed and fish bellied forever.  There is new life on the other side of our storms, including those we bring upon ourselves."  (srt writings)

and even when you are so tied up in your own storm, God will provide mercy and grace and forgiveness and love and even a lesson learned. 

Rest in that today!!

If you want to follow along with the rest of She Reads Truth, go to www.shereadstruth.com and go from there :)

love all,
brooke

saved from shereadstruth.com

 

Dear girls, let myself be a lesson to you.

Well, I might be back in the blogging world. I started this about a year ago and haven't touched it since. I love writing, so why am I not blogging? I feel as if I have grown into a stronger writer since then, anyway. Tonight has really been the first time I wanted to write on my blog. Oh and by the way, I will be revamping my page soon :)

Dear girls, let myself be a lesson to you...

I LOVE makeup. LOVE it. I am always scrolling through the hair and beauty section of Pinterest looking for new looks to try. It's funny actually how much a person can change in just a short period of time. I was looking through some pictures earlier on my Facebook page and came across me at my 16th birthday party. I am embarrassed by how much makeup I thought actually looked good, and er...pretty? Yes, my eyes looked like a raccoon starring back at me. I made myself look like I had two black eyes because I just loved that smoky eye-cat-eye look. I mean, it looks like I had never even been introduced to a blending brush. Can I just be honest for a minute... when I see girls who have got that look going on, I think back of when I was in that stage of my life when I wanted to look like I knew what I was doing, and when I thought black eye shadow caked on my eyes was cute. Don't get me wrong, I love smoky eye, I just prefer it to be well blended. This was a little over two years ago when I wore this look a lot in my life. My mom kept telling me to tone it down and I would almost always have to wipe my bronzer off with a tissue in the car. I would get so mad at her because I knew it looked great.

Now, I am 18, still young, but old enough to know that my 16-year-old smoky-eye is long gone. I love a simple highlight and contour on my face and a soft eye shadow. Girls, let me tell you what I learned, pick a power/foundation/bronzer that fits your color. Don't overdo it or make it too pale. Also, steer clear of any dark eye shadow if you're not sure how to blend it. Trust me. I am far from a perfectionist on makeup, but I do know this much from experience.

And this is why I am so thankful, THANKFUL, thankful for change in life. Even if it is only a makeup change. Let myself be a lesson to you.


Here it is. Uh huh, cute right?!

God Bless,
Brooke B

Proverbs 31 Woman

Sorry it's been so long! I've been around the world and back the past week. Hope you all are doing well!

I feel like I just need to share my favorite verse to all you special ladies out there. Proverbs 31:25 "She is clothed in strength and diginity, and she laughs without fear of the future."
That verse to me is so moving! It always reminds me who I am and Who's I am.

My awesome new bible I just got tonight has a whole page over the Proverbs 31 woman and it points out a lot of different things a Proverbs 31 woman should be.

-Her gift to those around her is undying love for God, which takes her out of herself and gives her the confidence to create oppertunities to prosper.

-She is able, by the help of God, to do more than the average person could do because she doesn't rely on her own strength but on his.

-She speaks wisdom that comes from her faith in God and his Holy Spirit.

-The words of the God Girl encourage and admonish and never belittle or despise. (AMEN!)

-Peace, hope, and love are hers, and because of that others call her, like the women who have come before her, blessed.

While I was in El Salvador, the first day we went to CIPI, also a governent owned orphanage. It had special needs kids, teen girls, teen moms and their babies, and abandoned babies. My group went to the teen moms area. There was about 6 moms, they all had a twin bed, and one tiny dresser of their own. It was terribly sad but I guess better then what some had lived in before. Our translater, Sarah, told us to share our favorite bible verse to the girls. I told them my favorite verse was Proverbs 31:25. They asked why? I told them to me, it defines a godly woman. I then got to hand out two spanish bibles to the girls to share. Hoping that I made a difference in those 6 girls lives and they know that our heavenly father can save them from their sorrow and pain.

Thanks for reading! Have a great night.
-Brooke